


A Touch of Softness

by LovelyLittleGrim



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: A small hint of angst, Bunnies, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 23:19:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16147655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyLittleGrim/pseuds/LovelyLittleGrim
Summary: After visiting a pet shop with Theo, Liam decides that Theo needs a welcome-to-the-family gift.





	A Touch of Softness

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xTarmanderx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xTarmanderx/gifts).



> Idk what this is really, I just wanted to write something for Tara's birthday because she's a sweet little bean and deserves the world. I hope you have an amazing day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
> 
> Also, a BIG thank you to Manon for spiraling with me and giving me the idea behind this fic.

They’re supposed to be hurrying home for dinner, but as they walk past the rows of businesses on Main street a bright yellow flyer catches Liam’s eye. He comes to an abrupt halt as he reads over the flyers, Theo crashes into his back not expecting him to just suddenly stop in the middle of the walkway. The bag of groceries dangling from his wrist smacks Liam painfully in the hip, the sharp edges of the cereal box poking him roughly.

Theo huffs in irritation. “What are you doing Dunbar?”

“Look,” Liam nods at the display window of the shop where the flyer is taped.

NOW HIRING.

  * Cashiers
  * Groomers
  * Stockers
  * Pet Coaches



MORE DETAILS INSIDE.

Theo arches a brow. “So?”

“So,” Liam says elongating the word for emphasis, “I need a job.”

“At a pet store? Are you even good with animals?”

Liam shrugs. “No idea, but a job is a job, come on.” He doesn’t wait for Theo to respond before reaching out and grabbing him by the sleeve of his jean jacket and yanking him along into the store.

“Hi, welcome to Pet’s Place,” an employee greets enthusiastically.

“Hi,” Liam greets back as he strides up to her. “I saw the flyer on the window about you guys hiring. Can I have an application?”

“Of course,” the girl—Beth, Liam realizes her name is once her hair slides away from her nameplate—says. “Come with me.”

Liam starts to follow her, but before he gets more than two steps he’s jerked to a sudden stop. He looks back at Theo who has an amused expression on his face.

“What?” Liam asks.

“You should probably do this on your own, Littlewolf,” Theo says and nods at where Liam’s hand is wrapped around his. Liam hadn’t realized he was still holding on, and he hadn’t realized that his hand had slid down to twine around Theo’s.

“Oh,” Liam flushes, jerking his hand away. His palm is warm from where it had been wrapped around Theo’s heated skin. “Yeah, right, sorry… I’ll…be back.”

Theo dips his head, his hair falling into his dark green eyes, a small smirk on his lips. “I’ll be here.”

* * *

 

It takes Liam a lot longer to get the application than he had expected it to. Beth had explained how the scheduling worked for each position available as well as what was required from the employee and the pay that would be received. It was incredibly helpful in helping Liam choose which position he wanted to apply for, but it resulted in him being in the office for nearly fifteen minutes.

“Thank you so much,” Liam says again as he slips out the door after Beth and back into the shop itself.

“You’re welcome, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Beth says again before wandering off to help her customers.

Liam stares down at the application in his hand and grins. The hours are good, and the pay seems pretty fair. He folds the papers in half and looks around for Theo. He doesn’t see the chimera, but the store is pretty large so he’s not too worried about the chimera getting annoyed with his delay and leaving Liam to walk home all alone. He starts towards the aisles near the cat enclosure and peeks down row after row. He can’t really rely on his sense of smell in here, the scent of animals and cleaners is too strong to pick up anything else.

After what feels like hours, but can realistically only be ten minutes, he finds Theo near the rodent’s section of the shop where they keep their rabbits and hamsters. The chimera is hunched down and peering into a large glass enclosure. Liam sighs with relief, he really had been starting to think Theo had left him.

He makes his way over to Theo but says nothing as he comes to a stop just beside him. They’re standing in front of the rabbit’s cage, but there’s only a single rabbit inside, a soft white little thing with a single straw of hay atop its head. Theo’s eyes look incredibly soft as he stares at the small white bundle of fur, his fingers caressing the glass as though he wishes he could reach through it and pet the bunny inside. Liam’s never seen that type of expression on Theo’s face before. It surprises him.

“Sorry it took so long,” Liam murmurs belatedly after realizing that he’s been staring at Theo.

Theo hums quietly and then says, “I had a bunny when I was a kid.”

Liam’s body goes still, it’s not often that Theo supplies information or anecdotes about himself and he’s scared that if he even breathes too loud Theo won’t continue to talk. And, if he’s being honest with himself, he’s desperate to know everything he can about the closed-off chimera.

The white bunny stares at Theo’s finger with pale pink eyes and then hopes closer, its little nose bumping against the glass as it tries to sniff at Theo.

 _It’s cute,_ Liam thinks idly. He’s never had a pet before, he’s never had much time or patience to even think about owning one, but he can see Theo with a pet. Theo is quiet and careful, the type of person that could easily gain an animals love and trust.

“His name was Hiphop…Tara came up with the name.” Theo’s voice is quiet, a barely there hush beneath the irritating shop music that plays overhead. “My grandmother got him for me when I turned seven…”

There’s a small wave of sadness from Theo, there only for a second and then gone, as though Theo had forcefully pushed away the emotion. His hand slides away from the glass back to his side and the rabbit hops away, back to its plastic burrow.

“What happened to him… Hiphop?” Liam asks and tries not to wince at how his words catch in his throat.

Theo looks up at him, his green eyes seem to stare straight into Liam, then he turns his gaze away and pushes up right, “My parents happened.” Liam doesn’t know what that means, but the soft look isn’t in Theo's eyes anymore. The chimera shrugs his shoulders and nods at the papers in Liam’s hands. “Did you fill it out already?”

“No,” Liam shakes his head. “They told me to take it home and read over it first, I can bring it back in tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Theo says, his hands slide into his pockets as he heads for the automatic doors at the front of the pet shop. “Come on littlewolf.”

Liam watches him go for a moment before looking back at the soft white bunny. He bites down on his bottom lip in thought and then follows after Theo.

* * *

 

The image of Theo’s green eyes staring into the glass cage won’t leave Liam alone. He thinks about it constantly. Theo had looked so soft, so vulnerable. The thought makes Liam’s fingers twitch with the urge to reach out and gather Theo into a tight hug, to apologize for whatever it was that Theo’s parents did—for whatever it was that a small Theo had gone through. It’s sort of driving Liam crazy.

“Dude,” Mason says nudging him in the side with a bony elbow. “What’s up with you? You’ve been weird all day.”

“More like all week,” Corey chimes in from across the lunch table.

Liam blinks at them slowly, their words filtering in through cotton. “What?”

Mason huffs and points at him. “See, this is what we mean. Spill dude, what’s up?”

“I went to a pet shop with Theo on Saturday,” Liam tells them and then pauses. The little bit that Theo shared with Liam isn’t his to tell and even if he had the permission to share it he wouldn’t want to.  He gnaws on his lip as he thinks over his words carefully. “I think… I think I’m going to buy him a bunny.”

He sees Mason and Corey look at one another in confusion before turning back to him. “Him as in Theo? Why?” Corey asks.

“Did he say he wanted a bunny?” Mason asks as he takes a bite of a fry, he looks curious, his dark eyes staring at Liam in that way that means he’s assessing everything.

Liam shifts uncomfortably beneath their gazes. “Well… no, but… I just want to buy him a bunny, okay?”

They don’t look like they understand at all, which is fine, they don’t have to. They didn’t see what Liam saw in the pet shop. Of course, him—seemingly suddenly—declaring that he wants to buy Theo a bunny is going to sound weird to everyone. After all, Theo is the big bad chimera of death and destruction, just picturing him with something as innocuous as a bunny is laughable—was laughable. Now, Liam is kind of dying to see it—to see Theo with something so precious in his hands, holding it carefully, the barest hint of a smile on his lips. Liam flushes at the thought.

Now, he just has to convince his parents that a bunny is a perfect addition to the Geyer-Dunbar-Raeken household.

Should be easy, right?

* * *

 

It’s not.

“It’s a rodent,” his mother tells him, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Yeah, but a cute one,” Liam argues.

“They carry diseases, Liam.”

“…cute diseases.” Liam winces as soon as the words are out of his mouth.

His father snorts out a laugh as he walks past the kitchen where Liam is having a debate with his mother. “There’s no such thing, Liam,” he calls out.

Liam makes a face at his back. “Not helpful dad,” he huffs before turning back to his mother. “Look, it’s not for me okay? It’s for Theo, I think a bunny would make a nice gift—a welcome to the family type of gift, you know? Show him we like having him here?”

His mother doesn’t look impressed with his explanation. “A bunny is a welcome to the family gift? Since when? What happened to fruit baskets and congratulations cards? Why does it have to be a whole bunny?”

Liam can feel the blush already starting to rise up on his cheeks as he once again pictures that soft look on Theo’s face. A fruits basket wouldn’t put that look there, neither would a card. He crosses his arms over his chest and shrugs nonchalantly. “It just does.”

“Uhuh,” his mother grins, her blue eyes bright with amusement and knowing. She’s entirely too perceptive, Liam never gets away with anything. “Sure, it does, sweetheart.”

She turns away from him and looks at the doorway. “Honey, what do you think?”

Liam’s dad pokes his head into the kitchen and Liam shoots him his best imploring look. It only makes his father roll his eyes, but he does look thoughtful as he says, “I think our son is a werewolf, so anything normal has gone out the window.

“So?’ Liam says hopefully.

“So,” his father shrugs, “a bunny can be a welcome to the family gift.”

Liam tries not to look as elated as he feels, but he’s pretty sure he fails.

 

* * *

 

Getting a bunny as a pet is apparently a lot more work than just picking a bunny and paying for it. Liam is beyond lost as he reads over the long list of instructions and necessities needed for the furry little critter. 

“Liam, hey, back so soon,” a friendly voice calls out from behind him. He turns to see Beth’s smiling face. She gives him a little wave and joins him at the bunny enclosure.

“Hey,” Liam says looking up from his cell phone at her.  “Yeah, I, uh, I’m here for the bunny and… these things.”

He waves his phone at her. “Can you help me? I’m like super lost.”

“It’s what I’m here for,” Beth tells him, she reaches into her smock and pulls out a red sticker with **sold** written on it, gently she peels the sticker from the paper and sticks it to the glass. She smiles at him. “To let everyone know the bunny is taken.”

Then she motions him towards another aisle, “Come on, this way for all your bunny needs.”

Relief seeps through Liam’s bones as he follows after her.

With Beth’s help, it doesn’t take long before Liam is standing at the register and paying for his purchases. His wallet cries at the loss of money but he knows it’s all going to be more than worth it in the end. “Thanks for helping,” Liam tells Beth as he waits for his change. “I’ve never bought a pet before.”

“It was my pleasure,” Beth grins as she rips the receipt off and hands it over with his change. “You’re going to be a great owner.”

“Oh she’s not for me, she’s a gift for a friend,” Liam says as he slips his wallet back into his pocket and slides his bags up onto his arms.

“A gift?” She gives him a sly grin. “For that boy you were here with a few days ago? The one looking at her like he’d fallen in love?”

Liam blushes. “Yeah… that one.”

“Well,” Beth says as she carefully hands over the cardboard carrier with the bunny inside. “I’m sure he’ll love her.”

Liam holds the cardboard box close to his chest. “He will.”

* * *

 

Liam almost yelps when the front door opens and Theo walks in, he’d lost track of time while setting everything up in Theo’s room. He wasn’t ready for Theo to be home yet, he hadn’t figured out what he was going to say or how he was going to show Theo. And now he’s out of time.

“Hey, is someone else here?” Theo asks curiously his head tipping to the side as he no doubt hears the bunny’s heartbeat fluttering away somewhere in the house. “I didn’t see any other cars in the driveway.”

“Not exactly,” Liam says with a nervous grin. His own heart is beating out a nervous tempo. He didn’t really think any of this through and now he’s starting to panic. He’s always been a Do first think later type of person. He hopes that won’t fuck up whatever carefully balanced relationship he and Theo have.

Theo frowns at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Liam says quickly. He reaches for Theo’s sleeve, misses and grabs his hand. He pauses as they stare at one another. “uh, come with me.” He tact’s on an awkward _please_ that makes Theo’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“So, you do have manners, I’m impressed,” he comments as they walk up the stairs.

Liam rolls his eyes and huffs out a fond, “Shut up, Theo.”

He stops before reaching Theo’s room and moves around so that he’s behind Theo, gently nudging him forward until Theo starts walking on his own and opens his bedroom door. 

Theo freezes the moment he sets eyes on the bunny and Liam bumps into him, he hadn’t expected Theo to just turn into a living statue. Liam takes a step back, putting room in between there bodies and waits for some type of reaction with bated breath. There’s a long beat of silence--so long Liam wants to just scoop up the bunny and run away from this whole plan-- and then Theo asks, “Why is there a bunny is my room, Liam?”

“Surprise,” Liam rasps, his mouth dry with worry because he's not exactly sure what else to say and it is, in fact, a surprise. 

“Surprise?” Theo asks without looking at him for which Liam is grateful, he’s sure he looks like a mess right now. Cheeks flushed and hair wild from where his hand is tangled nervously in his locks, tugging as the second's tick by. 

“Yeah, she’s a gift,” Liam explains. “From uh, me to you, to you know, welcome you to the household…”

“It’s kind of late for a welcome,” Theo says glancing over his shoulder at him. “I’ve lived here for two months.”

Liam rolls his eyes and drops his hands down to his sides. “It’s never too late to give someone a gift, Theo.”

“Don’t people usually get fruit baskets or cards or something that’s less..." Theo waves a hand vaguely through the air, "alive." 

“Boring people do.” Liam chews his bottom lip as he stares at the back of Theo's head, he wishes he could see Theo's face, try to gauge what he's thinking or feeling because the only thing Liam can smell is his own worry in the air. “Do you not like the gift? I can take her back to the shop if you don’t want her.”

“Wouldn't that be rude?” Theo says quietly as he finally makes his way towards the cage, a soft scent of amusement whisps through the air. “I would hate to be rude.”

“Right,” Liam says with a fond roll of his eyes, “because you’ve never been rude before.”

Theo drops down onto his knees in front of the cage. “Exactly Dunbar.”  

Carefully, he unlatches the cage and reaches inside. The bunny moves towards him without a moment’s hesitance lets Theo cup her gently and pull her out of the cage and up to his chest. He settles down cross-legged on the floor. "It's mine?" 

There's a note of vulnerability in his voice that makes Liam's heart clench uncomfortably. “Yeah,” Liam gives him a reassuring smile and drops down beside him, making sure his movements aren’t too sudden so that the bunny doesn’t get startled, “she’s all yours, Raeken.”

“She…” Theo murmurs as he cradles the bunny close to his chest, his fingers moving delicately over her fur. As though she’s something to cherish—because she is.

Liam’s heart skips a beat, the soft look is there again in Theo’s eyes and Liam definitely did not think this through. His mouth is too dry, his hands too damp. Theo’s kinda of beautiful. Liam knows now that he made the right decision and the nerves that were clinging to him like a second skin finally dissipate completely. Leaving only relief and a deep fondness for the boy beside him.

Theo looks up at him with that open look in his eyes and Liam feels stuck in place. “What should I name her?”

An unintelligible sound leaves Liam’s mouth, his teeth clicking together.

Theo chuckles and bumps his shoulder into Liam’s. “Sorry, what was that?”

Liam bumps his shoulder back into Theo’s and makes a face at him. He clears his throat loudly and turns his gaze to the carpet beneath them. He plucks at it with his finger as he thinks. “What about Luna?” He asks, peeking up at Theo and then back down at the carpet. “Since she’s white, like the moon… and there’s this whole Japanese folklore about a rabbit being in the moon.”

“You’re such a nerd, Dunbar,” Theo says lightly, his voice isn’t mocking or mean, instead it sounds almost fond and Liam can’t resist looking up again to see what expression Theo is wearing on his face.

Theo’s looking down at the bunny nestled against his chest, her white fur is sticking to his black shirt, but he doesn’t seem to care at all as she sniffs at him curiously and wiggles around in his light grasp. Liam feels like he has to look away, but he doesn’t—can’t.  

“Luna,” Theo says thoughtfully as he rubs behind one of her giant floppy ears. “It suits her.”

With one last gentle caress of her fur he carefully sets Luna down on the carpet so that she can get familiar with her surroundings, then turns to him. Liam flushes beneath his searching gaze.

“Hey,” Theo says in a hushed tone, his hand reaching out for Liam’s, their fingers twining together perfectly. Liam’s breath catches in his throat because Theo is touching him like he’s something fragile and precious. “Thank you.”

“Y—Yeah, no problem,” Liam croaks out, his hand feels so warm. “Um, welcome home.”

The smile Theo gives him is something to be treasured, something that sends Liam’s heart skyrocketing in his chest which he knows Theo can clearly hear. Theo squeezes his hand once but doesn’t let go, instead, he shifts his hand, bringing their palms together. Liam knows his hand is probably sweaty with nerves, but Theo doesn’t seem to care. Together, hand in hand, they watch Luna explore the room.

Liam realizes he might be in love with something even softer than bunnies.

**Fin.**

**Author's Note:**

> If something is confusing or doesn't make sense please feel free to point it out to me. I am literally so shit at editing anything. Thanks for reading.


End file.
